If Kimya Dawson was making music 20 years ago and touring, I'd be on the road right now. She may prove to be the best singer/songwriter of my peer group, even ahead of Cobain (though it's pretty thin soup as far as overall competition goes). The god-daughter of the anti-folk movement and almost always lo-fi. Her first album was recorded in her bedroom on a 4-track. Dawson's writing has the poignancy of a mother singing lullabies to her baby and all of the edge of a well-honed knife: folky, quirky, clever, raw and vulnerable. She's the cool chick who thinks we're cool, too. An inspiring artist, and one of the most genuine voices in music today.

This is a spot on quote. "Kimya has a brilliant way of making you feel like bouncing and crying at the same time. An unmatched talent for portraying how life is both desperate and amusing ." -J. Paz

So I have nine selections, most of them live performances. There is no way that number is going to work in one thread, so I am going to break them into groups of three and keep the chatter to a minimum. The other two threads will be posted over the course of the week. The theme in this one is the pixie Kimya, songs from her first albums. Don't blink, the combined time is under ten minutes. Enjoy!

To begin, this song has one of the All-Time lines, "I was quiet as a mouse, when I snuck into your house, and﻿ took roofies with your spouse." It also has the most hits on youtube of all her songs, and was part of the soundtrack to the movie, Juno.

And here she is, as we are all live vids now till the end. This is from the tour in support of Juno at Amoeba Music in Berkeley ('07). I love the guy @ 1:47 (he is a poor cousin to the USB guy from the GD movie). As you can see by the demographic, while no doubt influenced by location and the movie, I am in a severe minority. This changes as we go through the next two threads which will lead to the present day.

Yes, Dawson has that gift. Her current work I'm not sure would hold the attention of a child, since it's mostly about the next spoke on the Wheel. Or at least the attention of my mini Golden Horde, though they do like the music on this thread.

whoa, didn't expect to see this here! i knew kimya back in the early 90's when we were both living in olympia, wa, and attending the evergreen state college. i'm not sure if she was even doing music at that point, but she was always very cool and we saw each other at lots of parties and show and stuff. i haven't really kept up with her music as it is a bit on the twee side for my usual taste, but i really enjoyed checking out those tunes. thanks for posting.